The 2016-17 A-league season begins this weekend and it is set to be one of the biggest in history with a lot of talented players taking to the field. The Socceroo saviour Tim Cahill has joined Melbourne City in the biggest signing for the league. Continue reading for our A-league Season Futures Preview and Betting Tips.
2016-17 A-league Minor Premiership
We are predicting the Melbourne Victory to bounce back from last season’s disappointment to bounce back strongly and return to the top of the A-league. To finish in a finals position wouldn’t normally be a bad season for a side but the Victory went into the year with a lot of expectations and they were predicted to run away with the competition.
Their squad has improved from last year and it has been built with a lot of balance across the field. Carl Valeri is their returning skipper and he will show a lot of leadership this year. The side has an Australian midfield of Oliver Boazanic, Leigh Broxham and James Troisi. New Zealand International Marco Rojas has been added to the side and he will add even more fire power to a side that is already boasting with talent.
Despite a poor finish to the season last year, the Victory have always been a tough side to beat at home. We believe they will be the most consistent side throughout a long and tough season and this will ultimately lead to them finishing the regular season in top spot.
TIP: Melbourne Victory @ $6.00 with CrownBet
2016-17 A-league Grand Final winner
Finals football is always a hard thing to predict because the side heading into the knockout stages with a lot of form is always going to be a confident team. Injuries throughout the year can always play a part too. However, we are predicting that Melbourne City will be able to improve on their semi-final appearance from last year and lift the A-league trophy for the first time in the clubs history.
The club lost one of its best players and arguably the best in the A-league Aaron Mooy. The attacking midfielder was involved in the majority of the sides goals last year and helped turn them into the best attacking side to ever take the field for the A-league. However, despite this loss they have managed the keep the golden boot winner from last year Bruno Fornaroli whilst signing Socceroo legend Tim Cahill. These two will create a dynamic duo in front of goal and Bruce Kamau and Nicolas Colazo will add to the oppositions defensive issues. Coach John Van’t Schip will need to fix their own defensive inconsistencies and then they will be an incredibly tough team to beat.
TIP: Melbourne City @ $6.00 with Sportsbet
2016-17 A-league Wooden Spoon
There are only two sides that we believe will be fighting it out at the bottom of the table and they are the obvious choices. The Mariners had the worst season ever for an A-league club whilst the Newcastle Jets weren’t much better but their offseason has been even worse. Coach Scott Miller was shown the door, much to the displeasure of fans and this happened just two weeks ago, which has given his replacement Clayton Zane a limited amount of time to instil his strategies to the squad. They don’t have too much talent to bolster about but we expect them to be more competitive than the side we believe will finish on the bottom.
That side of course is the Mariners. They broke a lot of records last year and none of them were ones that you want your club to do. They conceded the most goals home and away, most matches lost, worst goal differential and didn’t manage one clean sheet in the 27 matches.
The side has recruited a bit of experience but not enough to move up the ladder in what should be one of the more competitive A-league competitions. There isn’t much expectations on a side that managed just three wins last season and finished 12-competition points below the next worst side.
TIP: Central Coast Mariners @ $2.40 with William Hill
2016-17 A-league Top Goal Scorer
Last year Besart Berisha entered the A-league season as a massive short priced favourite to win the golden boot award. After a fast start to the year, all those punters who had backed the favourite were counting their winnings but it wasn’t to be as the Albanian fell out of form throughout the middle of the season whilst Melbourne City became the best attacking team in the competition’s history. Bruno Fornaroli was the man who reaped the rewards and it was largely due to Aaron Mooy’s unselfishness in attack. Mooy was always looking for the right pass to get Fornaroli a shot against the keeper and without Mooy he could see a dip in goals. However, Tim Cahill joins the club and whilst he is known for his goal scoring ability for Australia he is also a great provider. We are predicting City to focus on their goal scoring again this year and Fornaroli will finish on top for the second straight year.
TIP: Bruno Fornaroli @ $5.00 with CrownBet
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Take note: Any of the tips in this article are simply the author’s opinion, so bet at your own risk and always gamble responsibly. Also be sure to check out the Before You Bet Twitter Page for all our thoughts in the lead up to bets! Happy punting!
